Raindrops and Stars
by BeautifulInversion
Summary: Deanna and Will are serving onboard the Enterprise, raising two young daughters. It is a family piece, with a bit of conflict and Drama. Centers around their oldest daughter. Also, Picard/Crusher. Please Read and Respond.
1. Tea Time

**I found this story over on the Yahoo Imzadi Fanfic board. I'd forgotten that I started it, a long time ago. It peeked my interest again. There is a sentence that implies there is something more going on with Deanna, but I can't remember what the twist was. I have a next chapter in mind though ... It'll be fun to pick it up again. Deanna and Will have two daughters in this story. A three year-old named, Kyla and a one month old named Camilla. Her nickname is Mila (Me-La). Let me know what you think of the story! :)**

"Ky, baby, come here and let daddy put your shoes on," called William Riker to his 3 year-old daughter, who was playing in her room. "Kyla Elizabeth," called the commander of the Enterprise once

more when the toddler didn't respond. He peeked into her room.

"Daaaa-dy, I'm trywing to hab a tea parr-ty," she huffed while pouring her stuffed elephant, Trunk, and her favorite doll, Sally, some invisible tea.

"Daddy's sorry to interrupt sweetheart, but I'm sure they'll be waiting here for you when you get home from "school." He told her.

"But daddy, it won't be tea time anymore," she protested, looking up at her father with those big blue eyes.

"Come here," he said softly as he knelt down beside her. "Daddy would love to stay here and play tea party with you all day long, but he has to go help Uncle Jeany drive the ship. And you," he said,

"have to go play at "school" with all your friends."

". ..and pway wif bwocks," she asked sweetly, her eyes brightening a bit.

He grinned, nodding. "Yes, and color and hear a story."

"Kay, daddy," Kyla told him, sitting down on the floor. "I'm weady. Put on my shoes." Riker laughed as he slipped his daughter's tennis shoes on her tiny feet. The door chimed just as he finished

tying her shoes.

"That's your Aunt Bev." Will told Kyla, "Do you want to go let her in?" He asked his little girl who was already halfway to the door.

"Hey there, Pumpkin," Beverly Crusher said as the doors slid open. She scooped her goddaughter into her arms, giving her a big hug. "How's your morning going?"

"Gr-weat," she said kissing the doctor's cheek, "'Cept daddy wuddn't let me finish my tea parwty."

"Shame on you commander," she teased. He shrugged.

"What can I say doc? I'm an ogre."

She laughed, straightening an unbalanced pigtail on Kyla Riker's head.

"You ready to go," Beverly asked Kyla, who was dressed in her lavendar overalls and a shirt patterned with small flowers. She nodded. "Run tell your mommy, bye," she told the three year-old as she set her down. Kyla headed in the direction of her parents' bedroom.

"Ky," Riker said, stopping her. "Be real quiet mommy and Camilla are still sleeping."

"Kay, daddy," she told him.

"Thanks for coming by to get Kyla, Bev. Deanna's been up all night with the baby and I've got duty in twenty minutes," He said throwing some stray toys into his daughter's toy bin.

"It's no problem, Will. I love to spend any time I can with the girls. Besides it's on the way." She replied. "You guys still having a rough time with the little one?"

He smiled, nodding slowly. "You'd think they would have a cure for colic by now. She cries all the time, nothing seems to appease her."

"Dea must be exhausted, especially after going back to work this week and everything ... " Before Riker could respond Kyla ran back to her "aunt".

"Whet's go, Aunt Beberwee," she said excitedly.

"Okay, kiddo," she responded. "Aren't you going to tell your daddy bye-bye?"

"Yes, ma'am. Bye daddy," she said turning to him. He grabbed her up in a big bear hug, "Bye, my little lady bug. Have a good time!"

*********

Commander William Riker had just finished discussing with Geordi the troubles they'd been having with the new warp engines and was making his way back up to the Bridge. His thoughts kept drifting back to Deanna. The way she'd looked up at him with those huge dark eyes, that morning when he'd gone in to kiss her goodbye. Their one month old daughter, Camilla, lay quietly sleeping in a bassinet next to their bed and Deanna was in her robe, about to go in and take a shower. He'd wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her to him. She staring up into his face. He couldn't help but think about how tired she looked and how much she had been through in the past few weeks. Maybe she shouldn't have gone back to work so soon. Maybe it was just too much, even with the limited caseload she'd taken on.

"Commander Riker to Counselor Troi," he said tapping the comm badge on his chest to contact his wife. Deanna had chosen to continue the use of her maiden name in her professional capacity as counselor aboard ship. Yet, there was something very special to him, even after four years, finally being able to call her Mrs. Riker.

"Will," she began.

"Hi beautiful." Riker replied.

Deanna leaned back in the chair where she was sitting in her office and smiled.

"How is your morning going?"

"Aren't you on duty?" She asked playfully. "Shouldn't you be doing something productive."

"There is nothing more important in my day than talking to my wife." He said as he ducked into the Turbolift. "How are you?"

She laughed and then attempted to stifle a small yawn. "Better now that I've heard from you, Imzadi. Still feeling a bit jittery after the two cups of coffee I just swallowed rather quickly."

"You hate coffee."

"Yes, but my clients prefer that I am awake during their appointments." She smiled, fiddling nervously with her fingers, rearranging the padds on her desk.

"Dea," Will began as he stepped onto the lift and waited for the doors to slide shut in front of him. "I need you to do me a favor."

"I'm listening," she replied, almost certain she could hear her husband chuckling inside her mind.

"Before I left for my Bridge shift this morning, I happened to get a glimpse of your schedule for today," he started.

"Oh, you just happened to ..."

"Yes, and I noticed that after lunch you have a three hour break before your last appointment." Riker continued.

"Mmmm ..."

"Plenty of time for you to go to our quarters and take a much needed nap. Have a hot, relaxing cup of tea, put on some of that soul music you like so much and close those beautiful eyes and rest for a few hours." He pleaded.

"Will, if I take a nap in the middle of the day. I'll feel a wreck when I wake up, we'll just try to get the girls to bed early tonight ..." She said, giving just as much fight as she felt she had left against him.

"Dea, just do this for me, okay? You're exhausted. I could see it in your eyes this morning. I can hear it in your voice." He smiled, knowing it wouldn't take long for her to relent. "I'll pick Mila up from the nursery. Beverly and Jean-Luc have asked to have Kyla for dinner. So I'm sure they'll give her too much ice cream, put her in her "jammies," tell her a bedtime story, and bring her back to us sometime this evening."

It was almost as if Riker could hear the sigh from his wife loudly over the ship's communication system, when he knew it had only come out as a whisper. The events surrounding Camilla's birth had brought a bit of conflict into his relation with Deanna and had also been catlyst to some of the choices they would seek to make in raising there family aboard the Enterprise. He and Deanna were healing, but there 3 year-old little girl was having trouble adjusting to the new baby in the Riker family. Mila was born prematurely and now not only was she tiny, but lately she seemed not to be soothed. It seemed to be affecting her big sister the most and the way Ky had chosen to distance herself from the disruption of consistency in her life was to distance herself from Deanna, to detach somewhat. He knew it wasn't easy for Deanna, no matter what her psychology training had taught her about parenting. This was personal, a matter of the heart.

"I'm worried about Kyla." Deanna said, surprising even herself by admitting it aloud in this way.

"Dea, Ky is going to be fine. Really she's already doing much better," he reassured his wife. "Besides she loves spending time with her godparents. Who would have thought that Jean-Luc Picard would have ever found such a soft spot in his heart for a child in this way? The extra attention is good for her right now."

"You're right." She said feeling a little better.

"Damn." She heard him say underneath his breath.

"Will, what is it?" Deanna asked.

"The tea party." He said, remembering the conversation he'd had with his little girl earlier that morning.

"What tea party, Imzadi?"

"I promised Kyla that if she got her shoes on and left for school with Beverly that she could finish her tea party with Trunk and Sally when she got home. She thinks they're going to be waiting for her and now she's going home with the Captain and Bev."

Deanna laughed. "I love you."

Riker smiled broadly, feeling as if they may have not told each other those words enough over the past few weeks. It felt so good to hear it. "I love you too, Dea."

"So you promise to go get some rest after lunch?" He wasn't giving up.

"Yes, Will. I promise."

"Good. When I get home from my shift, I will make you a home cooked dinner. Anything you want. And for dessert? One of those famous Riker massages." He told her as he called for the lift to resume.

"You mean a hot fudge sundae and then a massage from my wonderful husband." She corrected.

"Yes. What would you like for dinner?"

"Comfort food." She replied.

"_Italian," _He thought to himself. Over the years he'd hooked Deanna on so many Earth dishes, Italian was her guilty pleasure.

"Sounds perfect, love. I'll see you tonight. Riker out."


	2. Raindrops

Jean-Luc Picard was at the end of the couch in Beverly Crusher's quarters sipping on a hot cup of Earl Grey tea. They had both taken what was a big risk personally, when deciding to trust the feeling they'd been fighting for so many years now. And though it had seemed like a big leap to take from friendship to lovers, he'd never felt more content in his life. Jean-Luc Picard had loved Beverly Crusher from the time he was a young captain taking his first command. Deciding to take their relationship to a different level had concerned them both, they feared what it might do to their working relationship, especially if things did not worked out as hoped for. Yet, it had only seemed to strengthen the crew. The senior staff supportive in a positive step they had seen coming for years.

It wasn't often that he looked in the mirror and didn't notice the changes that had come about in himself over the past few years. But the areas in which he had softened, did not diminish his strengths, they complemented them. He looked around the doctor's quarters, seeing the bits of himself that had been integrated into her living space. Bottles of wine from LaBarre, books from his personal library strewn here and there, and a quilt that once belonged to his grandmother draped across the back of the chaise in the corner of Beverly's sitting room. She'd left her own special touches in his cabin as well and he knew that they would be living together permanently if it wasn't for her need to be close to Sickbay on the nights she was on call.

Picard closed his book as he heard the sound of the cabin doors sliding open. The CMO of the Enterprise stepping inside holding the tiny daughter of his Number One and his ship's counselor. Kyla Riker had her head laying on Beverly's shoulder, her thumb placed in her bow-shaped mouth. Her curly brown hair was pulled back into two ponytails, one on each side of her head and she was wearing a tiny pack on her shoulders. He couldn't see her face, but somehow, as the doors shut behind them, he knew she was smiling.

"There he is," whispered Beverly into her god-daughter's ear. "Would you like to go say hello?" He watched her nod, not taking her little thumb out of her mouth until Beverly had set her down on the floor. "There you go, Punkin," she said, as she put the rest of Kyla's things on the table beside the door. He watched as the toddler ran towards him, jumping up on the couch and giving him a big hug.

"Good afternoon, Unca," she said, smiling up at him. Her big blue eyes wide and sparkling, in her tiny face.

"Good afternoon, cherie." He chuckled slightly, kissing her cheek.

"Did you haf fun flying the ship wif my daddy today?" She asked, as grown-up as possible while he helped her out of her daypack.

"It was a lot of fun, yes." He told her. "How was school?"

"We learned "R" … Rrrrrrr." She replied, but before he could inquire more she interrupted. "I want to see my piggies." Kyla told her "uncle," putting her shoe in his lap. Jean-Luc looked over at Beverly who was now standing by the replicator. She was attempting to stifle a laugh.

"Off pwease." The little girl asked, innocently. It amazed the doctor how completely Kyla Riker had managed to wrap the great starship captain around her pinky finger. Beverly watched him as he pulled off her shoes and socks, blowing air on each foot as her toes became free. An action that was met with a fit of giggles.

"Mrs. Nevelle said that she'd just woken from a nap when I picked her up," Beverly told the captain as she ordered herself a glass of water.

"Well, she seems pretty awake, now." He told her with a grin, watching Kyla run over to Beverly.

"Yes, Miss Riker?" She asked as the toddler, who had just turned 3 a few weeks before and still seemed so tiny, pulled at her uniform leg. "Do you want a snack?"

Kyla nodded, gracing her "aunt" with a big smile.

"Carrots?" The doctor asked, playfully tugging at a pigtail.

Kyla shook her head, giggling.

"How about an apple?"

She shook her head again.

"I can't think of anything else the replicator might have that's good for a snack. Can you Jean-Luc?"

"I hear Mr. Worf enjoys the prunes." Beverly laughed and Kyla scrunched up her nose.

"Is that wike cookies?" She asked the grown-ups.

"Oh, cookies. You want cookies is that all?"

"Yes, Pwease." Kyla replied, reaching her arms up toward the doctor.

"Oh, you want to do it."

She nodded.

"Okay, kiddo. You have to talk loud."

"Buttah cookies." The little girl said leaning towards the replicator.

"And what kind of juice?" Beverly asked her.

"Gwape."

"Computer one grape juice." The doctor requested. Beverly sat the snack down on the table and helped Kyla into the booster chair she kept at the cabin for her. "You eat and Aunt Bev is going to change okay."

"Yes."

"Why don't you tell your uncle about your little sister?" She called from the other room.

Jean-Luc smiled. "How is Camilla doing Ky?"

"She's doing berry wowdly, Unca Jeany." Kyla replied, taking a bite of her cookie.

"Noisy is she?" He asked amused.

"I getting an achey head, just finkin' about it." He could hear Beverly laughing from the other room. Kyla dunked one of her butter cookies in her grape juice. Jean-Luc watched, not quite sure if it was a great idea or not, but quite pleased when she didn't tip the glass over.

"Pwease don't waf, Aunt Beb. I seer-wee-us." Beverly emerged from the bedroom, having changed into some soft and flowy pants and a comfortable shirt. She walked over and kissed her god-daughter on the head before taking a seat on the couch next to Jean-Luc. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, smiling at the exchange.

"I'm sorry, Pumpkin. It does sound very serious."

"S'okay." She replied, chomping down on the last of her cookies. "I fink she might be going back soon."


End file.
